MMS Minnesota 2014

Building a Comprehensive CMDB with System Center Service ManagerMarcel Zehner@marcelzehnerhttp://marcelzehner.ch

Travis Wright@radtravis

travis.wright@cireson.com

MMS Minnesota 2014

Introducing Travis• Travis Wright, United States• Partner, Director of Product Management @ Cireson• Cloud & Datacenter Management MVP• 11 year Principal Program Manager on System Center

MMS Minnesota 2014

Introducing Marcel•Marcel Zehner, Switzerland• Cloud & Datacenter Management Lead, itnetx• Cloud & Datacenter MVP• Focus on Service Management• Provisioning• Management• Monitoring• Billing

• Head of System Center Universe Europe

MMS Minnesota 2014

What You Can Expect If You Stay Here•What we will NOT cover• System Center Service Manager product overview• ITIL and processes

•What we WILL cover• How the Service Manager CMDB works• Techniques to build a custom, dynamic CMDB

MMS Minnesota 2014

Introduction to CMDB

MMS Minnesota 2014

Purpose/Value of a CMDBU

nifie

d Da

taba

se • What do you have?

• What are the inconsistencies?

Man

age

Confi

gura

tion • What’s

right/wrong?• What needs to

change?

Rela

te to

Wor

k Ite

ms • What is broken?

• What is being changed?

• What is involved in a release?

Process

MMS Minnesota 2014

Populate the CMDB to Create Unified DBOut of Box Connectors• Operations Manager• Configuration Manager• Active Directory

Custom Sources• Custom Connectors• CSV Import• Manual Data Import• 3rd Party Tools

MMS Minnesota 2014

Extending the CMDB

MMS Minnesota 2014

Extending the Model: Management Packs•Management Packs are used to• extend Service Manager with new content and behavior• capture customizations

•Management Packs are self-contained and transportable• Microsoft/Partners -> Customers• Pre-production -> Production

•Management Pack schema and data model is shared between SM & OM

Management Pack ContentManifest

IdentityMP References

Type DefinitionsClassesRelationshipsListsType ProjectionsCategoriesGroups/Queues

MonitoringModule Types*Rules/WorkflowsMonitorsDiagnosticsRecoveriesTasks*

Reports*Linked Reports

Overrides

TemplatesMP TemplatesObject Templates

PresentationForm TypesForms*View Types*ViewsImagesUI Pages*FoldersConsole Tasks*Web Pages*

Data WarehouseFactsDimensionsOutriggersWarehouse ModulesMeasures

Connectors*Language Packs

* = referenced resources

Form AssembliesWorkflow AssembliesWeb PartsReportsView AssembliesUI Page AssembliesModule AssembliesConnector Assemblies

.mp file (XML)Management Pack

Resources

MMS Minnesota 2014

Modeling Using Classes• Class: The definition of an object type stored in the CMDB,

including a description, the properties and default values stored for that object type. E.g. “Computer”, “User”.• Classes are defined in an inheritance hierarchy with optional

relationships:System.Entity

Configuration Item

Computer User Operating System

Work Item

Incident Extension

Projection

MMS Minnesota 2014

Modeling Using Lists• New classes can be defined by inheriting from the core model. For example,

we can define a new “Projector” class for the overhead projector objects :

• List – An enumeration of values (optionally hierarchical) used to constrain value choices for a given class property. Example : a List used in the “Condition” projector property: ProjectorCondition {New, Working, Broken, Being repaired}

• Lists can be further customized :• Change value names and add/remove values in existing lists• Add new lists for custom properties

Configuration Item

Computer User Operating System Projector

Projector Serial Number (key)

Make Model Location Condition (ProjectorCondition List)

MMS Minnesota 2014

Packaging Best Practices

Sealed MPs

• MPs holding type definitions should be sealed

• Allows references from other MPs

• Contents cannot be changed in the SCSM console

Unsealed MPs

• Easy changes and extensions possible

• Used for templates, list values etc.

MMS Minnesota 2014

CMDB Data Model• Relationships• Relationship between 2 classes• Source class• Target class

• Different types of relationships• Reference• Hosting• Containment

• Relationships can have additional properties

MMS Minnesota 2014

DEMO: Extending the Data ModelVisio of Out of Box Data ModelAuthoring ToolVisual Studio Authoring Extensions (VSAE)

MMS Minnesota 2014

Custom Forms

MMS Minnesota 2014

CMDB Forms• Used to display information about objects• Loaded when a CMDB object is edited• Microsoft delivers forms for the most important classes• Users, Computers, Business Services etc.

• Generic forms• Used for classes with no assigned forms• Cannot display all information, e.g. Specific relationships are not

visible• OK for some classes but useless for other classes

MMS Minnesota 2014

Forms

• A form is targeted to a class or projection• Form fields are bound to target class or projection properties

• Forms can be further customized using graphical form designer :• Adjust look and feel of existing forms – change layout, labels, fonts etc.• Add/remove fields on forms to customize information displayed• Add new forms for new object types in the system, new custom controls

Projector

MMS Minnesota 2014

CMDB Forms• Extend existing forms• Add additional controls to the form• Can be done with the SCSM Authoring Tool• Generates much «code» in the MP• Tidy up the XML afterwards!

• Create new forms• SCSM Authoring Tool, very basic with limited controls available• Visual Studio allows to build more complex forms• All SCSM controls available and usable, also custom controls• Complex logics with code behind

MMS Minnesota 2014

Demo: CMDB FormsExtend/customize existing forms using the SCSM authoring toolCreate forms using Visual Studio

MMS Minnesota 2014

Configuration Management

MMS Minnesota 2014

Manage Data in the CMDB• Some data is exclusively managed in the CMDB• Lives nowhere else• Create, update, delete etc.

• Some data is imported into the CMDB• Surrounding Management Systems• Databases• Excel sheets• Etc.

MMS Minnesota 2014

Manage Data in the CMDB• Questions to ask when connecting the CMDB with other

systems• One-time import?• Inbound-sync from surrounding system?• Outbound-sync to surrounding system?• 2-way-sync with surrounding system?

MMS Minnesota 2014

Pump Data into the CMDB• One-time imports• Import the data using CSV or Powershell• Once in the CMDB, destroy the data source

MMS Minnesota 2014

Pump Data into the CMDB• SCSM OOB connectors available• Active Directory• SCCM, SCVMM, SCORCH, SCOM CI, SCOM Alerts• Exchange (separate download)

• Be careful when using connectors!• In the CMDB, every object has one or multiple sources• If imported by a connector, the source is the connector

• Objects with no source are removed from the database• If you delete a connector your objects will go bye bye ...• ... unless there is no other source (like another connector)

MMS Minnesota 2014

Pump Data into the CMDB• Go beyond OOB connectors• Use SMA runbooks and Powershell scripts• Read data from other systems• Compare to data already stored in the CMDB• Create and/or update data in the CMDB

• Develop a real connector

MMS Minnesota 2014

Demo: Pump Data into the CMDBDefault connectorsSMA-based connector (runbooks)

MMS Minnesota 2014

Reporting

MMS Minnesota 2014

CMDB Reporting• SCSM deliveres an optional DWH• Connect 1 or multiple SCSM environments• Can also be used to attach other data source

• Used for long-term archiving• Data from the CMDB might get groomed

• ETL jobs transforms and loads data into the DWH• Intervals can be configured• Reports are «only» near-realtime• Report-optimized data model

MMS Minnesota 2014

Reports from the DWH• Classic approach• SSRS reports delivered OOB• OLAP cubes delivered OOB• Based on SSAS• Calculated daily from the DWH DataMart

• For a customized CMDB data model ...• Create dimensions, facts etc. to bring data to the DWH

MMS Minnesota 2014

Reports from the DWH• Demo• Create reports with SSRS• Create dimensions and facts to bring additional data to the DWH• Reporting using OLAP data cubes in Excel

MMS Minnesota 2014

Reports from the CMDB• DWH downsides• Not very stable• MP mismatch possible if handling is not done correct• Data is not in real-time (1 hour+ old)

• Alternative is to create reports directly from CMDB data• Data is not stored in a reporting-friendly way• Has negative impact on application performance• You need a good understanding of the data model and some SQL

query skills

MMS Minnesota 2014

Reports from the CMDB• Approach• Access the data• Use a CMDB copy or a passive AlwaysOn-Cluster database copy• Transfer CMDB data to an Analysis Services tabular model

• Use Excel as your Authoring Tool• PowerView, PowerPivot etc.• Create a nice and shiny report

• If needed, use PowerBI or SharePoint BI for visualization

MMS Minnesota 2014

Reports from the CMDB• Demo• Create a SQL query to get data from the CMDB• Access the data and reate a report with Excel

MMS Minnesota 2014

Q & A

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MMS Minnesota 2014

Marcel ZehnerTravis Wright

Building a Comprehensive CMDB with System Center Service Manager